How to Record a Video with Your Android Phone

Since the introduction of the smartphones into our lives, especially the modern ones with high quality cameras and lenses, the need for carrying a camera wherever you go to take photos and record videos kind of diminished. We now easily take photos and do video recordings via our mobile devices on the go, without the extra expense or burden of owning and carrying a standalone camera.

Starting to record a scene as a video is as simple as touching your screen and tapping a few buttons on any tablet or mobile phone that works on Android operating system. In fact it is so simple and fun that nowadays you won't see an event or gathering with a lot of hands upholding smartphones to record precious moments for sharing with others and for re-living the moments at a later time.

How to Record Videos with Android Phones

Before I start, let me say mention that I am using a Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini with Android version 4.2.2. Though your phone may show difference in terms of the screen size and the interface, you should still be able to follow the basic steps as they are more or less the same on most Android smartphones.

Now, grab your phone and carefully follow the steps below.

STEP 1: Start the Camera application on your phone.

In most Android phones, you will see an application as a Camera icon with "Camera" text below it, on the homescreen. This is the default application Android phones use for taking pictures and recording videos. If you can't see it on the homescreen, check the other screens by swapping left and right or check the Apps section.

STEP 2: Press the Record button on the Camera screen.

Once you open the Camera application, it will start displaying what the camera lens sees on the other side of the phone, in real time. You will also see a couple of camera controls such as the shutter or mode buttons. On the bottom right, you will see the Record button, which you will need to press to start recording a video. Make sure the camera of your phone is well aligned with the scene you want to record and press the Record button.

After you press the record button, the previous camera controls will disappear and you will see the pause and stop buttons at the bottom, which you can use to pause or stop your video recording. Once you start recording, make sure that you see the red REC text at the top right corner and the timer below it. The text below the timer represents the size of the video file in KBs.

STEP 3: Adjust the depth of field of the camera.

When you first start recording, the screen may look a bit blurry, depending on your phone camera quality, other settings and the distance between your phone and the scene/objects you are recording. To get rid of the blur effect and make the video look sharp, tap on the screen once, which will display a white rectangle at the center of the screen and slowly turn it into a green which indicates the depth of field was adjusted successfully.

Once you are happy with the video quality, you can now continue your recording till you are done.

After finishing the recording, you can now send your video to your friends or contacts on instant messaging apps like WhatsApp or Skype, or publish and share it on a video sharing site like YouTube.

This is how you can easily record a video on your Android phone and hopefully you will find this tutorial to be helpful.